Targeted online, telephone and television advertisements based on cross-service subscriber profiling

ABSTRACT

A method is disclosed for monitoring data packet traffic in a communication network for at least two of a plurality of subscriber devices associated with a subscriber; developing a holistic subscriber profile for the subscriber based on the monitored data packet traffic; selecting advertisement data for a current one of the plurality of subscriber devices based on the holistic subscriber profile and sending the selected advertising data to the current subscriber device. A system is disclosed for performing the method. A data structure is disclosed for use in performing the method.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to targeted advertising for televisioncommercials and online advertisements.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Targeted advertisements have historically been mailed to large targetedgeographic areas such as a particular city, so that regional advertisersreach only those advertisement recipients who are deemed by theadvertiser as most likely to be responsive to their advertisements. Forexample, a car dealer in Dallas, Tex. would send advertisements only toresidents of Dallas, Tex. and surrounding areas.

Advertisers can potentially save advertising dollars by targeting theiradvertisements rather than indiscriminately broadcasting theiradvertisements to a general population of recipients.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a system for sendingadvertising data and monitoring data sent and received by varioussubscriber devices associated with a subscriber based on a subscriber'sholistic profile;

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart of functions performed in an illustrativeembodiment for creating a holistic subscriber profile;

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart of functions performed in anotherillustrative embodiment for delivering advertising data to anotherplurality of subscriber devices associated with a subscriber;

FIG. 4 is flow chart of functions performed in multicasting video andadvertising data to a group of subscribers in a particular illustrativeembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of functions performed in multicasting andunicasting advertising data to a group of subscribers in anotherparticular illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 6 depicts a data structure embedded in a computer readable mediumthat is used by a processor and method for delivering advertising data;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of functions performed in monitoring data andselecting advertisements in another particular illustrative embodiment;and

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative embodiment of a machine for performingfunctions disclosed in another illustrative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A particular illustrative embodiment discloses a framework to monitorand correlate subscriber data transferred from subscriber devices acrossbundled services such as Internet protocol television (IPTV), voice overinternet protocol (VoIP) and high-speed Internet. The subscriber data isused to build a holistic subscriber profile. A subscriber's registrationdata can also be correlated with subscriber data transfers to furtherrefine the holistic subscriber profile. The holistic subscriber profileis indicative of a subscriber's interests in certain products andservices that are advertised over the bundled services or VoIP, IPTV andInternet. As a result, the holistic subscriber profile enables thedelivery of targeted, personalized advertisements and commercials on anindividual service basis (IPTV, VoIP or Internet). Advertisements can bedelivered via Internet web page advertisements, mobile cell phoneadvertisements and/or IPTV advertisements. In another particularembodiment, advertising data is delivered to which ever subscriberdevice the subscriber is presently using, referred to herein as the“current subscriber device.” In another particular embodiment, theadvertising data is delivered to a subscriber device other than thecurrent subscriber device. For example, a subscriber's interests asrevealed in web surfing, e.g., web sites visited and keywords searchedby a subscriber, can be integrated into the holistic subscriber profileand used to provide more targeted IPTV commercials to the subscriber.Likewise a subscriber's interests as revealed in IPTV viewing, e.g.,video programs and/or genre of watched frequently or videos ordered ondemand, can be integrated into the subscriber's holistic profile andleveraged to provide more targeted online advertisements to be sent to asubscriber.

In another particular illustrative embodiment, a computer readablestorage medium is disclosed, having a computer program stored therein,the computer program comprising machine readable instructions that whenexecuted by a computer perform a method for monitoring data packettraffic in a communication network for at least two of a plurality ofsubscriber devices associated with a subscriber, the method furthercomprising: developing a holistic subscriber profile for the subscriber,based on the monitored data packet traffic; selecting advertisement datafor a current one of the plurality of subscriber devices based on theholistic subscriber profile; and sending the selected advertisement datato the current subscriber device. In another particular illustrativeembodiment of the medium, selecting the advertisement is further basedon a context for the current subscriber device.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the medium, thecommunication network is an Internet protocol television (IPTV) systemand the plurality of subscriber devices comprises devices selected fromthe group consisting of a computer, a web browser, VoIP phone, a videoreceiver set top box and a mobile telephone. In another particularillustrative embodiment of the medium, the current subscriber devicecomprises a computer and wherein the context further comprises apublisher profile for a website visited by the current subscriberdevice, the computer program further comprising computer instructionsfor receiving search criteria from an advertisement broker; detecting awebsite selection by the subscriber; monitoring according to a deeppacket inspection process, data packet traffic associated with thewebsite according to the search criteria; determining from the monitoreddata packet traffic at least one profile selected from the groupconsisting of a demographic profile and a psychographic profileassociated with the subscriber; and updating the holistic subscriberprofile according to the at least one said profiles.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the medium, currentsubscriber device comprises a set top box and wherein the contextfurther comprises a video data viewing selection, the computer programfurther comprising computer instructions for receiving search criteriafrom an advertisement element; monitoring according to a deep packetinspection process data packet traffic associated with the video set topbox; determining from the monitored packet traffic at least one among ademographic profile and a psychographic profile associated with thesubscriber; and updating the holistic subscriber profile according tothe at least one among said profiles.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the medium, the currentsubscriber device comprises a VoIP telephone and wherein the contextfurther comprises telephone usage, the computer program furthercomprising computer instructions for receiving search criteria from theadvertisement element; monitoring according to a deep packet inspectionprocess packet traffic associated VoIP data according to the searchcriteria; determining from the monitored data packet traffic at leastone among a demographic profile and a psychographic profile associatedwith the subscriber; and updating the holistic subscriber profileaccording to the at least one among said profiles.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the medium, thecomputer program further includes instructions for dividing a pluralityof holistic subscriber profiles data for a plurality of subscribers intoK advertising groups based on the holistic subscriber profile data forthe plurality of subscriber; determining a percentile ranking for enduser holistic subscriber profiles among a plurality of holisticsubscriber profiles; multicasting J advertising video data multicastgroups from a server to a plurality of subscriber devices in Jadvertising groups having a percentile ranking above or equal to apredetermined percentile ranking; and unicasting from the server,advertising video data channels for actively viewed television channelsto a fourth integer, I of end users having a percentile ranking below apredetermined percentile ranking.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the medium, theadvertising video data channels are only unicast and multicast foractively viewed IPTV channels, the method further comprising sending aninteger, N IPTV channels to the server. In another particularillustrative embodiment of the medium, the advertising data in the Jmulticast groups are inserted into one of the N IPTV channels at ansubscriber devices in the J advertising groups at the subscriber deviceand wherein the advertising data in the unicast groups are inserted intoone of the N IPTV channels at the subscriber devices in the Iadvertising groups at an subscriber device. In another particularillustrative embodiment of the medium, the computer program furthercomprises instructions, IF K is less than a first integer, M,replicating each of N IPTV channels for each of the K advertisinggroups; inserting into each replicated IPTV channel in each advertisinggroup, advertising data selected for the advertising group; and sendingthe N times K IPTV channels to an IPTV server close to the subscriberdevices.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the medium, thecomputer program further comprises computer instructions for receiving aregistration request from a publisher element; and determining thepublisher profile in response to the registration request. In anotherparticular illustrative embodiment of the medium, the computer programfurther comprises instructions, IF K is less than a first integer, M,replicating each of N IPTV channels for each of the K advertising group;inserting into each replicated IPTV channel in each advertising group,advertising data selected for the advertising group; and sending the Ntimes K IPTV channels to an IPTV server close to the subscriber device.

In another particular illustrative embodiment a system for sendingadvertising data is disclosed, the system including but not limited to aprocessor in data communication with a computer readable medium; in acommunication system; a deep packet inspection (DPI) device foranalyzing data traffic in the communication system generated by asubscriber on a plurality of subscriber devices; a correlation elementfor correlating the data into a holistic subscriber profile; and anadvertising broker element for selecting advertising data based on theholistic subscriber profile to send to a current subscriber device. Inanother particular illustrative embodiment of the system, thecommunication system is an Internet protocol television (IPTV) systemand the current subscriber device is selected from the group consistingof a personal computer, a web browser, a mobile telephone and a set topbox, the system further comprising a context element for use by theadvertising broker in selecting the advertising data.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the system, the contextis selected from the group consisting of a website visited by acomputer, telephone usage data and video data viewed. In anotherparticular illustrative embodiment of the system, the system furthercomprises a computer program embedded in the memory, the computerprogram further comprising instructions to divide a plurality ofsubscriber devices into K advertising groups based on holisticsubscriber profile data for the plurality of subscriber devices;instructions to, IF K is greater than or equal to M, send N IP channelsto an IPTV server that sends data to the subscriber devices;instructions to determine a percentile ranking for holistic subscriberdevice profiles among a plurality of holistic subscriber deviceprofiles; instructions to multicast J advertising data multicast groupsto subscriber devices in J advertising groups having a percentileranking above or equal to a predetermined percentile ranking; andinstructions to unicast advertising video data channels for active IPchannels being viewed to a fourth integer, I end users having apercentile ranking below a predetermined percentile ranking.

In another particular illustrative embodiment of the system, thepredetermined percentile ranking, I, J, and M are selected based on IPTVsystem available bandwidth between the IPTV server and the subscriberdevices. In another particular illustrative embodiment of the system,the predetermined percentile ranking is substantially 80%. In anotherparticular illustrative embodiment of the system, the computer programfurther comprises instructions to send channel assignment data to thesubscriber devices indicating internet protocol addresses for IPTVchannels and advertising data for the IPTV channels. In anotherparticular illustrative embodiment of the system, the advertising datain the J multicast groups are inserted into one of the N IPTV channelsat a subscriber device in the J advertising groups at the and whereinthe advertising data in the unicast groups are inserted into one of theN IPTV channels at the subscriber devices in the I advertising groups.

In another particular illustrative embodiment a data structure embeddedin a computer readable medium is disclosed, the data structurecomprising: a first field for containing data indicative of a holisticsubscriber profile for a subscriber based on inspecting data transfersfor a plurality of subscriber devices associated with the subscriber;and a second field for containing data indicative of a currentsubscriber device selected from a plurality of subscriber devices forreceiving the advertisement selected based on the holistic subscriberprofile. In another particular illustrative embodiment of the datastructure, the data structure further comprises a third field forcontaining data indicative of a context for the current subscriberdevice for selecting the advertisement, wherein the context is one ofthe group consisting of a web site profile for a web site visited by acomputer current subscriber device, telephone usage for a telephonecurrent subscriber device and video data viewing selection for a STBcurrent subscriber device.

In another particular illustrative embodiment, subscriber interests arederived from IPTV, Internet and VoIP data monitored via deep packetinspection. IPTV data includes but is not limited to, programs that arewatched frequently and videos ordered on demand. VoIP data can includetelephone numbers, names and characteristics (sports, movies, clothes)of merchants called by a subscriber to determine the subscriber'sinterests in particular products and services. A subscriber's telephoneusage such as conference calling and frequency of telephone usage,domestic and international calling can be tracked and integrated intothe holistic subscriber profile.

In another illustrative embodiment, an online contextual pay-per-clickmodel can be broken down into search engine based and publisher basedprofiling. There are four entities in the value chain of onlineadvertising: advertisers, advertisement brokers, publishers, andInternet users. Advertisers are those companies whom advertise theirproducts and services online. Advertisers distribute theiradvertisements via advertisement brokers. In another illustrativeembodiment an advertisement broker serves as intermediary to facilitateadvertisers distributing advertisements to either targeted websitepublishers or targeted end users. Publishers can be web sites on theInternet based World Wide Web, which attract end user visits, or hits. Awell known example of a publisher web site is the GOOGLE™ web site.

In another particular illustrative embodiment, a search-engine basedpay-per-click model derives subscriber interests from deep packetinspection (DPI) of subscriber data traffic for search queries,identifying keywords therein. Publisher profiling derives subscriberinterests from the content of a publisher website. The contextualpay-per-click online advertising is based on publisher profiling whichincludes subscriber profiling by leveraging a broadband provider'svisibility into subscriber data and associated activity over, the highspeed fiber optical communication lines provided by the IPTV network.Subscriber profiling is defined as the capability to derive asubscriber's current interests by correlating past IPTV, VoIP andInternet data transactions and activities as manifest in the dataanalyzed and inspected on the IPTV network using DPI.

IPTV providers can collect data from set-top boxes (STBs) and videoservers from which subscriber related data statistics are developed thatmay include for example, but are not limited to, IPTV packages orderedIPTV channels watched and timestamps; IPTV programs watched andtimestamps; IPTV programs recorded and IPTV videos ordered via ondemand. Broadband providers (such as an IPTV provider) can leveragetechnologies such as DPI to look into subscriber Internet, VoIP and IPTVtraffic. DPI devices can inspect packet headers, data packet payloads aswell as multiple data packets and interpret the data packets accordingto protocols such as hyper text transfer protocol (http) and domain nameservice (DNS). With DPI devices, broadband providers can profilesubscribers by tracking subscriber behavior and interests from data suchas websites visited and timestamps; search queries and advertisementsclicked.

A holistic subscriber profile can be built by correlating thesesubscriber packet data and other information from subscriberregistration with the IPTV profile and the high speed internet dataprofile for a particular end user or end user household. The profilesbased on IPTV viewing history, VoIP data and Internet data traffic forthe same subscriber can then be correlated with IPTV subscriberregistration information data and subscriber geographic location tobuild a holistic subscriber profile. In another particular embodiment,if desired and allowed by the subscriber, VoIP traffic data packets canbe inspected using DPI data in the IPTV network and correlated with theInternet traffic and IPTV data to form the holistic subscriber profile.The holistic subscriber profile so generated includes much moreinformation than what is available from a single source, e.g., eitherInternet traffic data or IPTV traffic data alone. As a result, theholistic subscriber profile enables online advertisements, portablephone advertisements, and TV commercials to be targeted to thesubscriber's specific interests. More targeted online advertisementslead to higher click-through rates and more advertisement revenue. Moretargeted TV commercials lead to more effective commercials and moreadvertisement revenue

In another particular illustrative embodiment, contextual pay-per-clickonline advertising is provided based on website publisher profiling withDPI in combination with the holistic subscriber profile. In anotherparticular illustrative embodiment, the following scenario is performed.A publisher, e.g., exoticpets.com in this example, registers with anadvertisement broker, which can also be the broadband provider or IPTVprovider. In a particular illustrative embodiment, the broadbandprovider is an IPTV provider, providing subscribers with IPTV, highspeed Internet data connectivity and VoIP over an IPTV network. In thiscase the IPTV network can be referred to as a triple play network,indicating that the IPTV network provides three services, including butnot limited to IPTV, VoIP and Internet. These services are offeredtogether and are referred to as bundled services. An advertisementbroker (AB) profiles the publisher websites through registrationinformation provided by a web site publisher and by characterizingsubscribers who visit a particular web site and along with profilingcontent for the web site subscriber. For example, SPORTSWEBSITE.COM™could be characterized as a sports web site and visitors to the web sitewould be characterized as male sports fans ages 18-35. Thus, whensubscriber “sports fans” as deemed by a prior visit toSPORTSWEBSITE.COM™ visits a second web site, the second web site can becharacterized as a sports related web site or as a site that attracts18-35 year old males. The content of the publisher website is also takeninto consideration when profiling the website and the publisher.

In another particular embodiment, a broadband service subscriber (IPTVsubscriber) accesses the Internet and visits the publisher's web site onthe World Wide Web. The data for a subscriber's current visit andearlier visits are inspected and profiled by a DPI device in the IPTVnetwork and used to create a holistic subscriber profile that is thenstored in a database. In a particular illustrative embodiment, theholistic subscriber profile is stored in a data base and is accessiblethroughout the IPTV network. In another particular illustrativeembodiment, the data base is a subscriber database. In anotherparticular illustrative embodiment, a web site publisher, such asSPORTSWEBSITE.COM™ generates a response page from the publisher via theIPTV system, which contains an embedded interface code, which can beJavaScript, from the advertisement broker. The interface code requestsadvertisements from the advertisement broker with some parameterscustomized for this publisher profile. The advertisement broker accessesthe holistic subscriber profile. The broadband provider returns theholistic subscriber profile to the advertisement broker. Theadvertisement broker delivers advertising data in real time based on thepublisher's profile and the holistic subscriber profile. The subscriberreceives the response page, which includes content data from thepublisher and advertisements from the advertisement broker. Theadvertisement broker response is also inspected and profiled by the DPIdevice. In a particular illustrative embodiment the advertisement brokeris part of and provided by an IPTV triple play network.

The holistic subscriber profile is generated from data inspected by theDPI device. Advertisements on the publisher's site to be targeted to thesubscriber's specific interests, based on the holistic subscriberprofile which in turn leads to higher click-through rate and moreadvertisement revenue. In a particular illustrative embodiment, a DPIdevice in the IPTV network profiles a subscriber. The broadband providerDPI device extracts keywords and rules from the advertisement broker.Sample keywords may include car, BMW, GM, Ford, flower. Theadvertisement broker can associate one keyword to a list ofadvertisements. Rules may include “if the subscriber visited any carrelated website, then look for the following keywords in thissubscriber's packets.” When a subscriber visits a publisher the DPIdevice inspects the subscriber data for the current visit and earliervisits based on the keywords and rules and correlates to thesubscriber's current holistic profile.

The DPI device updates the subscriber's holistic subscriber profile. Thesubscriber's request reaches the publisher. The publisher generates theresponse page, which embeds some interface code, typically JavaScript,from the advertisement broker. The interface code requestsadvertisements from the advertisement broker with some parameters,selected for the visited publisher's publisher profile. Theadvertisement broker requests the holistic subscriber profile, from thebroadband provider. The broadband provider provides the holisticsubscriber profile to the advertisement broker. The advertisement brokerdelivers in real time advertisements based on the publisher's profileand the holistic subscriber profile. A subscriber's personal computer(PC) receives the website response page, which includes the content fromthe publisher and advertisements from the advertisement broker. Theresponse is also inspected and profiled by the DPI device in the IPTVnetwork and integrated into the holistic subscriber profile.

A broadband provider can either partner with external advertisementbrokers or provide their own advertisement broker function. Bypartnering with advertisement brokers, the broadband provider canleverage the advertisement brokers' advertiser and publisher bases andpublisher profiling technology. On the down side, the broadband providercan only receive a share of the advertising revenue from theadvertisement brokers. By becoming an advertisement broker, thebroadband provider enjoys all the advertising revenues, but also buildsa sizeable advertiser and publisher database and to develop publisherprofiling technology.

In an illustrative embodiment, targeted advertising is directed toindividuals or groups of individuals based on their interests anddemographics derived from holistic subscriber profiles for theindividuals. The IPTV system collects data from STBs and residentialgate way. The IPTV system derives the following subscriber relatedstatistics from the data, including but not limited to channels watchedand timestamps, programs watched and timestamps, programs recorded,videos ordered via on demand. Additionally, residential gate wayassociate ecommerce purchases on the Internet, Internet surfing history,video on demand purchases associated with the IPTV system can be storedin the holistic subscriber profile data. The above subscriber relatedstatistics and subscriber profile data are stored in the holisticsubscriber profiles. The holistic subscriber profiles are continuouslyand dynamically updated in a “self learning mode” in real time so thatdivision of the holistic subscriber profiles into multicast advertisinggroups and unicast to individual end users based on a percentile rankingis continuous and dynamic in real time. That is, based on changes in thecontinuously updated holistic subscriber profile data, the division ofholistic subscriber profiles into various multicast advertising groupsor unicast to individuals, changes dynamically in near real time assubscriber holistic profile data changes are stored in the holisticsubscriber profiles. The available IPTV network bandwidth can alsochange dynamically as IPTV system demand varies, thus, those parametersfor dividing the holistic subscriber profiles that change based onavailable IPTV bandwidth, vary as the available bandwidth varies causingthe division of end user holistic subscriber profiles into advertisinggroups to vary dynamically along with IPTV available bandwidth.

A holistic subscriber profile can be built by correlating suchsubscriber related statistics and the holistic subscriber profile dataalong with other information such as gender, age, income, languagesspoken, areas of interest, etc. volunteered by a subscriber during anIPTV registration process. The video profile information will containdata for which a subscriber has opted in for monitoring and use by theIPTV system for the purposes of receiving targeted advertising data.Subscriber interests can be inferred based on the holistic subscriberprofile data. Based on subscribers' interests and background holisticsubscriber profiling results, one of the following targeted advertisingdata delivery described herein or an equivalent thereof can be utilizedto provide personalized advertising data and television commercialdelivery to IPTV television displays, portable subscriber data andmessaging devices such as mobile or cell phones and website banners andpop up displays on a PC or Laptop.

To allocate IPTV system bandwidth efficiently, in another particularillustrative embodiment most of the subscribers to an IPTV system can becategorized into a few advertising groups, such as sports, home &gardening, business, etc. In another illustrative embodiment most of theIPTV subscribers can be categorized into K advertising groups, where Kis a small integer, for example, five or less. In another illustrativeembodiment each of N available IPTV channels is replicated into Kmulticast groups at a main IPTV server, referred to as a super head end(SHO), one replicated channel for each of K advertising groups. Inanother illustrative embodiment, the channel replication occurs at theSHO. At the SHO, inserted into each channel in each of the K multicastgroups is a corresponding unique television commercial targeted to eachof the K advertising groups. The SHO broadcasts all the channels to alocation such as a regional IPTV server reffered to as a video head end(VHO) or local IPTV server referred to as a central office (CO) serverwhich is close to the IPTV end users or subscribers. When a subscriberwants to view a particular channel, the subscriber enters a channelrequest to an STB associated with the subscriber. The subscriber's STBthen uses channel assignments received from the SHO to map thesubscriber channel requests such that the subscriber joins one of the Kmulticast groups (TV channels) with commercials targeted to thesubscriber's profile as indicated by the advertising group to which thesubscriber is assigned.

In another illustrative embodiment described above utilizes K times morebandwidth distribution of N IPTV channels. In a second illustrativeembodiment, less bandwidth is utilized as all the N IPTV channels aredelivered in multicast; however, the slots for commercials are leftempty. Moreover, in the present example of another illustrativeembodiment, the N IPTV channels are not replicated for each advertisinggroup. Personalized commercials or advertising data for the activelyviewed programs are delivered to a subscriber's STB at a reduced speedvia unicast. The STB fills in the empty slots inserting the personalizedadvertising data or commercials with the advertising data received inunicast from the IPTV system. In MPEG, as long as the personalizedcommercials or advertising data starts with an MPEG I-frame, thepersonalized commercials will run smoothly with the regular video andtelevision program.

In one particular illustrative embodiment, K is a small integer, lessthan 5. Given that K, the number of subscriber profiles, is unlikely tobe large, since in a particular illustrative embodiment, substantially80% of all IPTV subscribers can be categorized into top 20% of thesubscriber profiles or advertising groups, another particularillustrative embodiment can be enhanced as follows. For each regularIPTV TV channel, there will be corresponding K (K=5 in this example)multicast groups (corresponding to K advertising groups) which are usedto deliver personalized television commercials to subscribers. When asubscriber tunes to a particular channel, the STB will join not only themulticast group for the regular IPTV TV channel, but also the multicastgroup for the targeted commercials personalized or advertising datadirected to the subscriber. However, the personalized commercial oradvertising data channels are multicast at a reduced speed (relative toa regular IPTV channel multicasts) via K streams, one stream for eachadvertising groups.

In another particular illustrative embodiment the commercials deliveredto a subscriber are based on the subscriber's holistic subscriberprofile, and therefore, more personalized.

Turning now to FIG. 1, the IPTV system 100 delivers content andadvertising to subscriber house holds 113. Television advertising datais inserted context by the advertising server 138. In the IPTV system,ITPV channels are first broadcast from a super head end (SHO) 101 to aregional or local IPTV VHO server 103, to a central office (CO) server105. The hierarchical IPTV system 100 includes a hierarchically arrangednetwork of servers wherein the SHO transmits video and advertising datato a video head end (VHO) 103 end server location close to a subscriber,such as a CO server 105. Actively viewed channels are sent in anInternet protocol (IP) data multicast group to the set-top boxes (STBs)at IPTV subscriber homes from the local server (CO). Each SHO, VHO, CO,and STB includes a processor 123, a memory 127 and a database 125. TheCO 105 server 115 delivers television content via multicast andtelevision advertising data via unicast or multicast depending on thetarget television advertising group of end user client subscriberdevices to which the advertising data is directed.

In another particular embodiment, subscriber devices, including but notlimited to, wire line phone 135, portable phone 133, lap top computer118, personal computer (PC) 110 and STBs 102, 119 communicate with theIPTV system through residential gateway (RG) 164 and high speedcommunication lines 106, 154. In another particular embodiment, DPIdevices 124, 126 inspect data VoIP, Internet data 120 and video data 104(multicast and unicast) between the subscriber devices the ITPV system,whether or not the devices are in the household 113 or mobile outside ofthe household. When outside of the household, subscriber mobile devicedata is inspected by DPI devices located in IPTV system servers whichroute the data to a VHO or CO in which the holistic subscriber profileis stored for processing.

As shown in FIG. 1 advertising sub groups 112 (comprising a group ofsubscriber house holds 113) receive multicast advertising data in videodata stream 104 from CO server 115 at a STB 111. Groups 114 are formedas a group of subscriber sub groups 112. Individual households 113receive unicast advertising data at set top box 111. More than one STB(see STB1 102 and STB2 119) can be located in an individual household113 and each individual STB can receive a separate unicast advertisingstream on IPTV transport 106. In another particular illustrativeembodiment separate and unique advertising data are displayed at eachset top box (STB) 102, 119 tailored to target the particular subscriberwatching television at that particular STB. Each STB 102,119 has anassociated remote control (RC) 116 and video display 117. The subscribervia the RC selects channels for a video data viewing selection (videoprograms, games, movies, video on demand) and places orders for productsand services over the IPTV system 100.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative television advertising insertion systemwherein television advertising data can be inserted at an IPTV server(SHO, VHO, CO) or at the end user client subscriber device, for example,an STB. Advertising data can be inserted into an IPTV video stream viaadvertising insertion device 107 at the IPTV VHO server 103 or at one ofthe STBs 102,109. The IPTV servers include an advertising server 138 andan advertising database 139. The advertising data is selected byadvertising selection element 129 from the advertising database 139based on the holistic subscriber profile and delivered by the VHOadvertising server 138 to the IPTV VHO server 115. A super head end(SHO) 101 distributes data to a regional video head end (VHO) 103 whichdistributes data to local central offices (CO) 105 which distribute datato a service area interface (not shown) to subscriber devices such asSTBs 102,119. Advertising data is also selected based on the holisticsubscriber profile and sent to a mobile phone or computer associatedwith the subscriber.

Turning now to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a flow chart 200 depicting functionsperformed in another illustrative embodiment for developing a holisticsubscriber profile. In block 202 another illustrative embodimentmonitors IPTV, Internet and VoIP packet data and, subscriberregistration information 134. In block 204 another particularillustrative embodiment uses the monitored data to build a holisticsubscriber profile 136 for a subscriber. In block 206 another storeholistic profile data in database (DB) 139 accessible to advertisingservers and throughout the IPTV system.

Turning now to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a flow chart 300 depicting functionsperformed in another illustrative embodiment. In block 302 anotherillustrative embodiment receives a request for an advertisement. If theadvertisement data is to be sent to a PC 304 or other similar devicesuch as a mobile lap top or mobile telephone that is visiting a website, then an advertisement is selected based on context of the web sitevisited by the PC and the holistic subscriber profile 306. In block 308an advertisement is sent to the PC for insertion into presentation ofweb site page. In block 324 the function exits. If at block 304 therequest is not in context of a PC then the function proceeds to block310.

If the advertisement request is for television the advertisement thenthe function goes to block 312 and selects television advertisement databased on context of the program being viewed and a holistic subscriberprofile. In block 314 the advertisement data is placed in a unicast ormulticast group based on holistic subscriber profile ranking and thefunction then exits at block 324. If at block 310 the advertisementrequest is for a telephone then the function goes to block 318 andselects telephone advertisement data based on telephone context (such asa geographic location, conference call in progress, international callin progress, etc.), and holistic subscriber profile then goes to block320, sends the advertisement data to the mobile phone and exits at block324.

Turning now to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a flow chart depicting functionsperformed in an illustrative embodiment where subscribers' house holdscontaining television or video reception type subscriber devices (e.g.,STBs) are categorized into K advertising data groups, based on eachholistic subscriber profile. In another particular illustrativeembodiment, where K is a small integer (for example, 5 or less) and K isless than M (for example M=6) at block 402, each of the N IPTV channelsare replicated in K multicast groups.

Channel assignments consisting of which multicast IP address to join foradvertising data associated with a given channel are delivered to eachsubscriber device member of each K multicast group at block 404. Forexample, K×N IPTV channels are multicast (N channels in each of Kmulticast groups) to an IPTV CO server location close to subscriberdevices associated with subscribers at block 406. When a subscriberwants to watch a particular IPTV channel, the subscriber enters orrequests a channel number at the STB (for example, channel 33 for ESPN)and the STB maps the subscriber channel request (channel 33) to join oneof K×N multicast groups (TV channels) with commercials targeted to thesubscriber's profile at block 408.

If there are five multicast groups (K=5), that is, there are fiveadvertising groups and there are 100 channels, then the 100 channels arereplicated five times, and 5×100 or 500 channels are multicast to the COfrom the SHO. Each of the 100 channels is replicated as the SHO in eachof the five multicast groups. Thus, when K=5 and N=100, a total of 500channels are multicast from the IPTV server, for example, the SHO.Separate and distinct advertising data can be inserted into each of theN IPTV channels in each of the K multicast groups so that advertisingdata is targeted to the advertising group associated with the multicastgroup. Separate IPTV channel assignments are sent to each advertisinggroup or multicast group. Thus, each STB or subscriber device willreceive a channel assignment directing the STB to join a particularmulticast group for their multicast group.

If there are 5 advertising groups (K=5) and 5 associated multicastgroups, then each subscriber device associated with a member of aparticular multicast group is sent a channel assignment for each of the100 channels. For example, if ESPN is channel 33 and usually deliveredon a particular multicast group address by the IPTV system, then each ofthe members of the five advertising groups could be sent a differentchannel assignment for channel 33 (advertising group 1, channel 33.1,advertising group 2, channel 33.2, advertising group 3, channel 33.3,advertising group 4, channel 33.4, advertising group 5, channel 33.5)and a multicast group address for each of the 5 versions of channel 33.Each of the five versions of channel 33 contains advertising dataselected for the interests associated with the advertising group withwhich the channel version is associated.

Turning now to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a flow chart depicting functionsperformed in another illustrative embodiment. When K is relativelylarge, (for example, larger than 6) the number of advertising datagroups K≧M, where M is an integer (for example, 6) selected based onavailable bandwidth in the IPTV network at block 502, N IPTV channelsare delivered to STBs in multicast with empty advertising slots andpersonalized advertisements are delivered at reduced speed to STBs viaunicast/multicast at block 504. It is expected that 80% of subscriberswill fit within the top 20% of the K advertising groups. J multicastgroups (where J is 20% of K) of personalized advertising are deliveredto STBs. When on of the J group subscriber's STB tunes to a particularchannel, the J group STB will join a first multicast group for theregular TV channel and a second multicast group for advertising data.The second multicast group contains advertising data delivered at lowerspeed, containing advertising data personalized to the J groupsubscriber at block 506. Personalized advertising data is delivered inunicast to each STB in the lower 20% of IPTV subscribers; the I group ofsubscribers at block 50.

Turning now to FIG. 6, in a particular illustrative embodiment a datastructure 600 embedded in a computer readable medium is provided. Thedata structure 600 includes fields for storing data used by anillustrative embodiment of a system and method. In data structure field602 holistic subscriber profile data field is illustrated for storingdata indicative of holistic subscriber profile data. The holisticsubscriber profile data includes demographic data such as age, gender,location, income, etc. and interests used by advertisers to selectrecipients for targeted advertising data based on DPI inspection of IPTVsystem triple play packet data associated with a subscriber. In datastructure field 604, a holistic subscriber profile percentile rankingfield is illustrated for storing data indicative of holistic subscriberprofile percentile ranking data.

In data structure field 606 a holistic subscriber profile predeterminedpercentile ranking field is illustrated for storing data indicative ofholistic subscriber profile predetermined percentile ranking data. In anillustrative embodiment, the predetermined percentile ranking of 80% wasused as an example percentile ranking, however, the predeterminedpercentile ranking can be adjusted based on the total number ofadvertising groups (K) and the available bandwidth in the IPTV system.In data structure field 608 the available bandwidth between an IPTV COserver and subscriber device field is illustrated for storing dataindicative of IPTV system bandwidth available between IPTV server andsubscriber device such as an STB 102 in household 113.

In data structure field 610 channel assignments for advertising dataunicast groups field is illustrated for storing data indicative ofchannel assignments for advertising data unicast group data. In datastructure field 612 channel assignments for advertising data inmulticast group field is illustrated for storing data indicative ofchannel assignments for advertising data in multicast group data. Indata structure field 614 a website publisher profile field is providedillustrated for storing data indicative of a website publisher profile.In data structure field 616 a keywords and rules, field is illustratedfor storing data indicative of keywords and rules. In data structurefield 618 a subscriber phone usage-conferencing, international calls,volume of calls field is illustrated for storing data indicative of thesubscriber phone usage-conferencing, international calls, volume ofcalls.

In another illustrative embodiment the broadband, e.g., IPTV providerextracts keywords 151 and rules 152 from the advertising broker 131.Sample keywords may include, e.g., car, BMW, GM, Ford, flower. Theadvertising broker 131 can associate one keyword to a list ofadvertisements. Rules may include “if the user visited any car relatedwebsite, then look for the following keywords in this subscriber's datapackets.” A subscriber visits the publisher. The DPI element or DPIdevices 124, 126 inspect the subscriber's visit data and early visitsdata based on the keywords and rules and correlates the data to thesubscriber's current holistic subscriber profile. The correlationelement 132 further correlates subscriber profiles 128 and 130 in to theholistic subscriber profile. The DPI device and correlation element 132updates the holistic subscriber user's profile. The user request reachesthe publisher. The publisher generates the response page, which embedssome interface code, typically JavaScript, from the advertisementbroker. The interface code requests advertisements from theadvertisement broker with some parameters customized for this publisher.The advertisement broker requests the holistic subscriber profile, fromthe broadband provider. The broadband provider returns the user profileto the advertisement broker. The advertisement broker delivers in realtime advertisements based on the publisher's profile and the holisticsubscriber profile. The user gets the response page, which includes thecontent from the publisher and advertisements from the advertisementbroker. The response is also inspected and profiled by the DPI device124 and correlation element 132.

Advertisements displayed to a subscriber are selected based on thepublisher's profile and the. Advertisers only pay for the clicks (ornumber of times an advertisement was clicked by users), not theimpressions (or number of times an advertisement was displayed). Theadvertisements are based on the publisher's profile and the holisticsubscriber profile, thus the users actively visiting the publisher'swebsite are more likely to click them. Advertisers can track theperformance of their advertisements. For wireless communications, awireless application protocol (WAP) or cellular network 141, 143 canrepresent a plurality of wireless base stations operating according tofrequency reuse architecture that provides over-the-air coverage to alarge geographic region of mobile messaging devices such as lap top 118and mobile phone 133.

Some of the messaging devices such as mobile phone 133 can operate asmultimode devices. Accordingly, said mobile devices can utilize POTS orVoIP services when in the household 113, or cellular services outsidethe household 113. A cellular network 141,143 can utilizecircuit-switched technology for video and data services such asGSM-GPRS, CDMA-1X, EV/DO, UMTS, and other known and next generationcellular communications technologies. Alternatively, or in combination,other wireless access technologies can be applied to the presentdisclosure such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), ultra wide band (UWB), Bluetooth™, and software defined radio(SDR). SDR provides a means to access public and private communicationspectrum with any number of communication protocols that can bedynamically downloaded over-the-air to the messaging devices such asmobile phone 133. Other present and future generation wireless accesstechnologies can also be applied to the present disclosure.

The communication system 100 can further comprise DPI inspectionelements 124, 126 a publisher profile element 137, and an advertisementelement broker 131. The DPI inspection elements 124, 126 can representhardware and/or software managed by for example an IPTV system thatmonitors data packet traffic associated with subscriber devices. Thepublisher element 137 can represent a web server operated by a publisherthat publishes content and advertisements by way of a website accessibleto Internet users. The advertisement broker 131 can represent hardwareand/or software operated by an advertisement broker for supplying to thepublisher element 137 advertisement data which can be selected accordingto behavioral and/or content profiles derived from the inspection andpublisher elements 137 as will be described shortly. Once advertisementshave been selected and forwarded to the publisher element 137, thepublisher element 137 presents a web page with the advertising data(provided by the advertisement broker) inserted in advertising displayspace 149 to end users with the publisher's content and targetedadvertisements provided by the advertisement broker. Advertisements canrepresent objects presented singly or combination as audible, still ormoving images. It would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in theart that the DPI inspection, publisher, and advertisement broker canoperate singly or in any combination.

FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary method 700 operating in portions of thecommunication system 100. Method 700 begins with step 702 in which theDPI inspection elements 124, 126 monitors packet traffic in thecommunication system 100 for an end user (subscriber). The DPIinspection elements 124, 126 can utilize inspection technology such asdeep packet inspection (DPI) which can analyze packet traffic from anylayer in an Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model such as packetheaders and payloads to assess the behavior of a target end userutilizing common market analysis tools. Alternatively, DPI can beapplied to a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)applied to the packet traffic. Thus for each of its subscribers, theIPTV system can perform various levels of DPI analysis to determine ademographic and/or psychographic profiles on the product and serviceinterests of its subscriber base. With this information, the DPIinspection elements 124, 126 can generate in step 706 a holisticsubscriber profile for each subscriber of the IPTV system orcommunication system.

In another particular illustrative embodiment, the DPI inspectionelements 124, 126 can receive in step 704 from the advertisement broker138, search criteria that can be applied to a number of websites VoIPdata or IPTV data. The search criteria can include a number of searchterms (e.g., for cars, boats, clothing, accessories, computers,electronics, office supplies, home supplies, travel, etc.) which can beaccompanied with advertisement broker provided search guidelines (e.g.,if the end user visits a website related to cars, inspect the followingkeywords in the user's packets). Thus steps 702-704 can be combined asanother means to perform market analysis on data packet traffic andthereby generate a holistic subscriber profile in step 706 for each enduser of the ISP.

In another particular illustrative embodiment, the DPI inspectionelements 124, 126 can receive from the advertisement broker 138, searchcriteria that can be applied to a number of websites IPTV data, IPTVdata or phone data. The search criteria can include a number of searchterms (e.g., for cars, boats, clothing, accessories, computerselectronics, office supplies, home supplies, travel, etc.) which can beaccompanied with search rules on guidelines (e.g., if the end user is awebsite related to cars, inspect the following keywords in the user'spackets). Thus steps 702-704 can be combined as another means to performmarket analysis on data packet traffic and thereby generate a holisticsubscriber profile for each subscriber of the IPTV system.

In step 708 the publisher element 137 can register one or more websitesmanaged thereby with the advertisement element broker. In this step, theadvertisement broker can be programmed to determine a website publisherprofile for each website by inspecting the content published thereby anddetermining from the content marketing patterns that identifyadvertisements having a high likelihood of targeting end user interestsassociated with said content. Thus with a publisher profile, andholistic subscriber profiles for targeted end users, the advertisementbroker can target subscribers of the ISP more precisely than prior artsystems. In another illustrative embodiment, steps 706 and 708 can bereversed in order. That is, the order of determining a publisher profileand a subscriber profile has no effect on the present disclosure. In yetanother particular embodiment, the DPI inspection element can proceedfrom step 706 to step 712 bypassing the need for determining a publisherprofile. In this embodiment, the holistic subscriber profile for eachend user subscriber would be utilized alone to target ISP subscribers.In another particular embodiment, the publisher element 137 is part ofthe IPTV system.

With the holistic subscriber profile and publisher profile (ifavailable), the publisher element 137 can be programmed in step 712 tocheck for end user visits to a website managed thereby. When asubscriber visit is detected, the publisher element 137 proceeds to step714 where it submits an advertisement request to the advertisementbroker. The advertisement request can include a number of operationalparameters such as an identity of the subscriber visiting the website(e.g., an IP address associated therewith), a script (e.g., a Javascript), and/or physical and software constraints for presentingadvertisement at a designated location in a web page of the websitevisited by the subscriber. The advertisement broker in step 716 requestsfrom the DPI inspection element the holistic subscriber profile of thesubscriber visiting the website.

Once it is received, the advertisement broker proceeds to step 718 whereit selects one or more advertisements according to the holisticsubscriber profile (and the publisher profile if available). In step720, the publisher element 137 receives and presents the one or moreadvertisements to the end user. The presentation of advertisements canbe audio only, visual only, still or moving images, or combinationsthereof. Once the advertisements are presented, the publisher elementcan be programmed to track end user selections (“clicks”) of theadvertisements. If no clicks are detected, the publisher element can beprogrammed to not submit fees for advertisements.

If on the other hand one or more advertisement selections are detected,the publishing element 137 proceeds to step 724 where it submits fee perclick to the advertisement broker, which relays said fee to acorresponding advertiser (a pay per click business model).Alternatively, step 724 can be modified so that click fees areaccumulated over periodic payment intervals (e.g., month-to-month) andsubmitted to the advertisement broker and thereafter to theadvertisement over the intervals. Upon receiving a payment from theadvertiser, the advertisement broker in step 726 keeps a portion of thepayment for fulfilling its brokerage services and submits the remainderto the publisher element. In an alternative embodiment, the publisherelement can be programmed to proceed from step 720 to step 725 where itsubmits an impression fee to the advertisement element which relays thefee to the advertiser (a pay per impression business model). Uponreceiving payment, the advertisement broker performs revenue sharing asdescribed in step 726.

It would be evident to an artisan with ordinary skill in the art thatthe aforementioned embodiments can be modified, reduced, or enhancedwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the claims describedbelow. For example, method 700 can be applied in the context of asubscriber visiting a website from a cell phone or personal digitalassistant rather than a computer. The advertisement model describedabove can be applied as a push rather than a pull business model. Forinstance, the advertisement broker 131 can proactively submit anadvertisement to the subscriber device 116 prior to the end uservisiting a website based on its analysis of the holistic subscriberprofile supplied by the inspection element. Moreover, the order andtiming of steps 702-725 can be modified without substantially changingthe essence of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system 800 within which a set of instructions, when executed,may cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. In some embodiments, the machine operates as astandalone device. In some embodiments, the machine may be connected(e.g., using a network) to other machines. In a networked deployment,the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client usermachine in server-client user network environment, or as a peer machinein a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine maycomprise a server computer, a client user computer, a personal computer(PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone, a mobile device, a palmtop computer, alaptop computer, a desktop computer, a communications device, a wirelesstelephone, a land-line telephone, a control system, a camera, a scanner,a facsimile machine, a printer, a pager, a personal trusted device, aweb appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise)that specify actions to be taken by that machine.

It will be understood that a device of the present invention includesbroadly any electronic device that provides voice, video or datacommunication. Further, while a single machine is illustrated, the term“machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines thatindividually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructionsto perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The computer system 800 may include a processor 802 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or both), amain memory 804 and a static memory 806, which communicate with eachother via a bus 808. The computer system 800 may further include a videodisplay unit 810 (e.g., liquid crystals display (LCD), a flat panel, asolid state display, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system800 may include an input device 812 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor controldevice 814 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 816, a signal generationdevice 818 (e.g., a speaker or remote control) and a network interface.

The disk drive unit 816 may include a machine-readable medium 822 onwhich is stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 824)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein, including those methods illustrated in herein above. Theinstructions 824 may also reside, completely or at least partially,within the main memory 804, the static memory 806, and/or within theprocessor 802 during execution thereof by the computer system 800. Themain memory 804 and the processor 802 also may constitutemachine-readable media. Dedicated hardware implementations including,but not limited to, application specific integrated circuits,programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise beconstructed to implement the methods described herein. Applications thatmay include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments broadlyinclude a variety of electronic and computer systems. Some embodimentsimplement functions in two or more specific interconnected hardwaremodules or devices with related control and data signals communicatedbetween and through the modules, or as portions of anapplication-specific integrated circuit. Thus, in an illustrativeembodiment, an example system is applicable to software, firmware, andhardware implementations.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Furthermore, software implementationscan include, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

The present invention contemplates a machine readable medium containinginstructions 824, or that which receives and executes instructions 824from a propagated signal so that a device connected to a networkenvironment 826 can send or receive voice, video or data, and tocommunicate over the network 826 using the instructions 824. Theinstructions 824 may further be transmitted or received over a network826 via the network interface device 820. The machine readable mediummay also contain a data structure for containing data useful inproviding a functional relationship between the data and a machine orcomputer in an illustrative embodiment of the disclosed system andmethod.

While the machine-readable medium 822 is shown in an example embodimentto be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” and “computerreadable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiplemedia (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associatedcaches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. Theterms “machine-readable medium” and “computer readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any tangibale non-transitory storage mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructionsfor execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform anyone or more of the methodologies of the present invention. The terms“machine-readable medium” and “computer readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to: solid-statememories such as a memory card or other package that houses one or moreread-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or otherre-writable (volatile) memories; magneto-optical or optical medium suchas a disk or tape; Accordingly, the invention is considered to includeany one or more of a machine-readable medium, as listed herein andincluding art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which thesoftware implementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, and HTTP) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

The illustrations of embodiments described herein are intended toprovide a general understanding of the structure of various embodiments,and they are not intended to serve as a complete description of all theelements and features of apparatus and systems that might make use ofthe structures described herein. Many other embodiments will be apparentto those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. Otherembodiments may be utilized and derived there from, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Figures are also merely representationaland may not be drawn to scale. Certain proportions thereof may beexaggerated, while others may be minimized. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative ratherthan a restrictive sense.

Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred toherein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merelyfor convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope ofthis application to any single invention or inventive concept if morethan one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments havebeen illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that anyarrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substitutedfor the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to coverany and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments.Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments notspecifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in theart upon reviewing the above description.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. §1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quicklyascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted withthe understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit thescope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing DetailedDescription, it can be seen that various features are grouped togetherin a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure.This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting anintention that the claimed embodiments require more features than areexpressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claimsreflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of asingle disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are herebyincorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing onits own as a separately claimed subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tangible non-transitory computer readablestorage medium, having a computer program stored therein, the computerprogram comprising: instructions to monitor packet traffic data in acommunication network for at least two of a plurality of subscriberdevices associated with a subscriber, wherein each of the plurality ofsubscriber devices utilizes a different service selected from voice overinternet protocol, internet protocol television and web site access viathe internet; instructions to develop a holistic profile for thesubscriber, based on the monitored packet traffic data between each ofthe subscriber devices, a first web site visited by the subscriber andthe different services being utilized by each of the subscriber devices;instructions to create a profile for a second and different web sitevisited by the subscriber based on the holistic profile of thesubscriber developed based on the subscriber visiting the first web siteand not based on the subscriber visiting the second web site; andinstructions to divide a plurality of holistic profiles data for aplurality of subscribers into a quantity, K advertising groups, based onthe holistic profiles data for the plurality of subscribers;instructions to replicate a quantity, N internet protocol televisionchannels K times; instructions to assign a new and unique channel numberfor each N channel number for each replicated channel in each of the Kadvertising groups; and instructions to map each of the N channelnumbers to the new and unique channel number at a set top box when asubscriber selects one of the N channel numbers, wherein each of the Nchannel numbers is the same in each of the K advertising groups, andwherein each of the N channel numbers is mapped to a different newchannel number in each of the K advertising groups.
 2. The medium ofclaim 1, the medium further comprising: instructions to select anadvertisement based on a context for the subscriber and wherein theprofile for the second web site takes on at least attributes of theholistic profile of the subscriber, the computer program furthercomprising: instructions to select a key word for the second web sitebased on the profile for the second web site; instructions to selectadvertisement data for a current one of the plurality of subscriberdevices based on the key word and the holistic profile for thesubscriber; and instructions to send the selected advertisement data tothe current one of the plurality of subscriber devices.
 3. The medium ofclaim 1, wherein the communication network is an internet protocoltelevision network and each of the plurality of subscriber devices isone of a web browser device, a set top box, a mobile phone, and a voiceover internet protocol phone.
 4. The medium of claim 2, wherein thecurrent one of the plurality subscriber devices comprises a computer andwherein the context further comprises a publisher profile for a websitevisited by the current one of the plurality subscriber devices, thecomputer program further comprising instructions to: receive searchcriteria from an advertisement broker; detect a website selection by thesubscriber; monitor according to a deep packet inspection process,packet traffic data associated with the website according to the searchcriteria; determine from the monitored packet traffic data at least oneof a demographic profile and a psychographic profile associated with thesubscriber; and update the holistic profile of the subscriber accordingto the at least one selected profile.
 5. The medium of claim 2, whereinthe current one of the plurality subscriber devices comprises a set topbox and wherein the context further comprises a video data viewingselection, the computer program further comprising instructions forreceiving search criteria from an advertisement element; instructions tomonitor according to a deep packet inspection process data packettraffic associated with the set top box; instructions to determine fromthe monitored data packet traffic at least one among a demographicprofile and a psychographic profile associated with the subscriber; andinstructions to update the holistic profile of the subscriber accordingto the at least one among said profiles.
 6. The medium of claim 2,wherein the current one of the plurality subscriber devices comprises avoice over internet protocol telephone and wherein the context furthercomprises telephone usage, the computer program further comprising:instructions to receive search criteria from the advertisement element;instructions to monitor according to a deep packet inspection processdata packet traffic associated with voice over internet protocol dataaccording to the search criteria; instructions to determine from themonitored data packet traffic at least one of a demographic profile anda psychographic profile associated with the subscriber; and instructionsto update the holistic profile for the subscriber.
 7. The medium ofclaim 1, the computer program further comprising instructions to:determine a percentile ranking for holistic profile data among aplurality of holistic profiles for subscribers; multicast J advertisingvideo data multicast groups from a server to a plurality of subscriberdevices in J advertising groups having a percentile ranking greater thanor equal to a predetermined percentile ranking; and unicast from theserver, advertising video data channels for actively viewed televisionchannels to a quantity equal to a fourth integer, I of end users havinga percentile ranking below a predetermined percentile ranking.
 8. Themedium of claim 7, wherein the advertising video data channels are onlyunicast and multicast for actively viewed internet protocol televisionchannels, the computer program further comprising instructions to sendan integer quantity, N of internet protocol television channels from theserver.
 9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the advertising data in the Jmulticast groups are inserted into one of the N internet protocoltelevision channels in the J advertising groups at the subscriber deviceand wherein the advertising data in the unicast groups are inserted intoone of the N internet protocol television channels at the subscriberdevices in the I advertising groups at the subscriber device.
 10. Themedium of claim 8, the computer program further comprising instructionsto: determine IF K is less than a first integer, M, then replicate eachof N internet protocol television channels for each of the K advertisinggroups; insert into each replicated internet protocol television channelin each advertising group, advertising data selected for the advertisinggroup; and send the N times K internet protocol television channels toan internet protocol television server closest to the subscriberdevices.
 11. The medium of claim 4, the computer program furthercomprising instructions to receive a registration request from apublisher element; and instructions to determine a publisher profile inresponse to the registration request.
 12. A computer-implemented methodfor sending advertising data comprising: analyzing packet traffic datain the communication system generated by a subscriber on one of aplurality of subscriber devices; correlating the packet traffic datainto a holistic profile for the subscriber; developing the holisticprofile for the subscriber, based on monitored packet traffic databetween each of the plurality of subscriber devices and a first web sitevisited by the subscriber on one of the plurality of subscriber devices;and creating a profile for a second and different website visited by thesubscriber based on the holistic profile of the subscriber developedbased on the subscriber visiting the first web site and not the secondweb site and a context for the subscriber; and selecting advertisingdata based on the holistic profile of the subscriber to send to acurrent one of the plurality subscriber devices; dividing a plurality ofholistic profiles data for a plurality of subscribers into a quantity, Kadvertising groups, based on the holistic profiles data for theplurality of subscribers; replicating a quantity, N internet protocoltelevision channels K times; assigning a new and unique channel numberfor each N channel number for each replicated channel in each of the Kadvertising groups; and mapping each of the N channel numbers to the newand unique channel number at a set top box when a subscriber selects oneof the N channel numbers, wherein each of the N channel numbers is thesame in each of the K advertising groups, and wherein each of the Nchannel numbers is mapped to a different new channel number in each ofthe K advertising groups.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thecurrent one of the plurality subscriber devices comprises a computer andwherein the context further comprises a website profile for the secondwebsite visited by the current one of the plurality subscriber devices,wherein the website profile for the second web site takes on at leastattributes of the holistic profile of the subscriber, the method farthercomprising computer program embedded in the computer readable medium,the method further comprising: receiving search criteria from anadvertisement broker; detecting a website selection by the subscriber;monitoring according to a deep packet inspection process, data packettraffic associated with the first website according to the searchcriteria; determining from the monitored data packet traffic at leastone profile selected from a demographic profile and a psychographicprofile associated with the subscriber; and updating the holisticprofile for the subscriber according to one of the demographic profileand the psychographic profiles.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein thecurrent one of the plurality subscriber devices comprises a set top boxand wherein the context further comprises a video data viewingselection, the system further comprising a computer program embedded inthe computer readable medium, the computer program further comprising:receiving search criteria from an advertisement element; monitoringaccording to a deep packet inspection process packet traffic dataassociated with the set top box; determining from the monitored packettraffic data at least one among a demographic profile and apsychographic profile associated with the subscriber; and updating theholistic profile for the subscriber.
 15. The method of claim 12, whereinthe current one of the plurality subscriber devices comprises a voiceover internet protocol telephone and wherein the context furthercomprises telephone usage, the method further comprising a receivesearch criteria from the advertisement broker element; instructions tomonitor according to a deep packet inspection process packet trafficassociated voice over internet protocol data according to the searchcriteria; determining from the monitored packet traffic data at leastone a demographic profile and a psychographic profile associated withthe subscriber; and updating the holistic profile for the subscriber.16. The method of claim 12, further comprising instructions to, IF K isgreater than or equal to M, send N internet protocol channels to aninternet protocol television server that sends data to the subscriberdevices; determining a percentile ranking for holistic profiles forsubscribers from a plurality of holistic profiles for the subscribers;multicasting J advertising data multicast groups to subscriber devicesin J advertising groups having a percentile ranking above or equal to apredetermined percentile ranking; and unicasting advertising video datachannels for active internet protocol channels being viewed to a fourthinteger, I end users having a percentile ranking below a predeterminedpercentile ranking.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein thepredetermined percentile ranking, I, J, and M are selected based on IPTVsystem available bandwidth between the internet protocol televisionserver and the subscriber devices.
 18. The method of claim 16, whereinthe predetermined percentile ranking is substantially 80%.
 19. Themethod of claim 16, the computer program further comprising: sendingchannel assignment data to the subscriber devices indicating internetprotocol addresses for internet protocol television channels andadvertising data for the internet protocol television channels.
 20. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the advertising data in the J multicastgroups are inserted into one of the N internet protocol televisionchannels at a subscriber device in the J advertising groups at the andwherein the advertising data in the unicast groups are inserted into oneof the N internet protocol television channels at the subscriber devicesin the I advertising groups.